Dr. Michael Young

Assistant Professor

Teaching and Learning

Office

DEG Degarmo Hall 232

Office Phone

(309) 438-5425office
phone

mjyoun2@ilstu.eduemail

About
Education
Awards & Honors
Research

Biography

Dr. Michael Young, Assistant Professor - Elementary Literacy, earned his Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning: Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University of Iowa. His research examines pursuits of equity and justice in literacy teaching and learning. Dr. Young serves as Co-Chair for the Legislative and Social Issues Committee for the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER). He also serves as the Co-Chair for the Whippoorwill Award for Rural Young Adult and Middle Grades Literature.

Current Courses

576.001Contemporary Curriculum Theory And Design

264.005Language Arts Instructional Strategies

258.005Social Studies Methods

471.001Social And Cultural Contexts For Language And Literacy

Teaching Interests & Areas

Literacy Education, Elementary Literacy Methods, Assessment and Instruction, Culturally Responsive/Sustaining Pedagogy, Critical Literacy

Research Interests & Areas

Literacy Education, Policy and Practice, Assessment and Instruction, Culturally Responsive/Sustaining Pedagogy, Critical Literacy

PhD Teaching and Learning: Language, Literacy, and Culture

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

M.Ed. (Master of Education) Reading Education

Mount Mercy University

Cedar Rapids, IA

BA Elementary Education and Journalism and Mass Communication

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

Blehart Distinguished Teaching Award

University of Minnesota Duluth

2023

Journal Article

Young, M. J. (2025). ‘When the state looks at you’: administering whiteness through surveillance, affect, and efficiency in elementary literacy teaching. Whiteness and Education, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23793406.2025.2472385

Szech, L. & Young, M. (2024). Subjugated learning: Caregiver perceptions of literacy, learning, and school. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 47, 365-378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44020-024-00069-3

Young, M. J. (2024). I am queer, not obscene: Disrupting policy mandates that censor readers and reading. Language Arts, 101(4), 268-271. https://doi.org/10.58680/la20241014268

Young, M. J. (2022). State-defined literacy and the narrated experiences of three elementary teachers. Talking Points, 34(1), 10-16.

Young, M. J. (2021). Not allowed: Power and practice in literacy teaching as defined by the State. Language Arts, 99(2), 113-125. https://doi.org/10.58680/la202131518

Presentations

Young, M. J. (2024, April). The State and the science: Examining the ideological apparatus of reading policy through teachers’ lived experience. A paper presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.

Young, M. J. (2024, December). Digging in and playing it safe: Co-constructing racial literacies at a predominately white institution. A paper presentation presented at the Literacy Research Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.

Young, M. J. (2024, November). Structured, scripted, and erased: Recasting the science to cultivate a humanity of readers. A roundtable presented as part of Resisting Scripted Curriculum as Erasure: Reclaiming the Heart, Hope, and Humanity of Reading for the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, Boston, MA.

Szech, L. & Young, M. J. (2024, March). Subjugated learning: Caregiver perceptions of literacy, learning, and school. A paper presented at the Critical Questions in Education Conference presented by the Academy of Educational Studies, New Orleans, LA.

Young, M. J. (2023, November). Bust the branding: Unmasking the networks that shape book bans and the science of reading. A roundtable presented as part of the Censorship Roundtable (Keep on reading for a free world: Reconnecting through literacy and literature) for the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, Columbus, OH.

Young, M. J. (2022, November). I’m queer, not profane: Disrupting policy mandates that censor readers and reading. A roundtable presented as part of the Censorship Roundtable (Banned in the USA: Lighting a fire for reading and not to books) for the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, Anaheim, CA.

Young, M. J. (2022, November). The gaze we feel: Literacy teaching in the state of surveillance. A paper presented for the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, Anaheim, CA.